Michael Kugelman

AUTHOR

Michael Kugelman is Asia Program deputy director and senior associate for South Asia at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C. He can be reached on Twitter @michaelkugelman and at michael.kugelman@wilsoncenter.org. He is also a Board Member of South Asia Journal.

Author's Posts

Michael Kugelman 3 May 2019 The world is watching the Indian election. Sort of BACK IN SEPTEMBER 2014, when Narendra Modi was in Washington for his first visit as prime minister, I remember standing outside near the White House and doing a live interview with an Indian television reporter—one of many that had converged on

Michael Kugelman,The National Interest•April 22, 2019 Michael Kugelman The U.S. decision to pursue talks with the Taliban is rife with risk, but it’s the right decision. Washington’s Gamble in Afghanistan There’s a famous saying that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. By that measure,

Michael Kugelman March 22, 2019 Before assuming his current position as Afghanistan’s national security adviser, Hamdullah Mohib was his country’s ambassador to the US. On March 14, while speaking to reporters in the city where he previously served as Afghanistan’s top diplomat in America, he made some decidedly undiplomatic remarks. Mohib’s comments — and the

March 1, 2019 by Michael Kugelman With both sides now willing to climb higher up the escalation ladder, a future nuclear exchange could become a far less remote prospect. The last few days have been downright scary in South Asia. India and Pakistan, the only two rivals in the world to be both neighbors and nuclear

As New Delhi and Islamabad trade nuclear threats and deadly attacks, a brewing war over shared water resources threatens to turn up the violence. By Michael Kugelman | September 30, 2016 Early on the morning of Sept. 29, according to India’s Defense Ministry and military, Indian forces staged a “surgical strike” in Pakistan-administered Kashmir that

The crisis was predictable. How both sides get out of it isn’t. BY MICHAEL KUGELMAN | FEBRUARY 22, 2019 It has been more than a week since a young militant in the district of Pulwama in the India-administered state of Jammu and Kashmir drove a car packed with 750 pounds of explosives into a convoy of Indian paramilitary

February 5, 2019 By Michael Kugelman Wilson Center The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), China’s mammoth and globe-girdling infrastructure and trade corridor project, represents one of those rare watershed developments for international affairs—something so big and consequential that it is impossible to ignore, no matter where in the world one might be sitting. The scale alone is

MICHAEL KUGELMANJanuary 02, 201918:41729 Recent days have produced two major developments for Afghanistan. One is a seemingly out-of-the-blue decision by US President Donald Trump to withdraw 7,000 American troops from the country in the coming months (though a White House spokesman claimed that a withdrawal order hasn’t been issued just yet). The other is Kabul’s announcement that

By Michael Kugelman January 1, 2019 https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/01/opinions/bangladesh-election-oped-intl/index.html Source: CNNViolence erupts during Bangladesh election 01:34 Michael Kugelman is deputy director and senior associate for South Asia with the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, DC. You can follow him on Twitter @michaelkugelman. The views expressed are his own. (CNN)On December 30, Bangladesh’s government was reelected in

Michael Kugelman October 10, 2018 Sunday marked the 17th anniversary of the start of the war in Afghanistan. The conflict has dragged on for so long that, very soon, America’s youngest soldiers could be fighting in a war that began before they were born. Aside from a series of news articles, this 17-year milestone didn’t

Union ministers Sushma Swaraj and Nirmala Sitharaman, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and US Secretary of Defence James Mattis. PTI Michael Kugelman September 07 2018, 3:52 AM This week, after several false starts, the United States and India finally held their 2+2 Dialogue. The talks breathed some much-needed life into a

Imran Khan, the presumptive next prime minister of Pakistan, addresses his supporters during a campaign rally in Lahore, Pakistan, July 23, 2018 (AP photo by K.M. Chaudary). Michael Kugelman Thursday, Aug. 16, 2018 Pakistan’s new government, which takes office on Aug. 18, will confront a raft of pressing challenges at home. They include a looming

As an athlete, Khan was universally loved. As a politician, he’s deeply polarizing. By Michael Kugelman | July 31, 2018 Pakistan’s cricketer-turned politician Imran Khan of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (Movement for Justice) speaks to the media after casting his vote at a polling station during the general election in Islamabad on July 25, 2018. (AAMIR QURESHI/AFP/Getty

Bloomberg Quint Opinion Michael Kugelman 29 July 2018urned-star politician, will soon be Pakistan’s new prime minister. Given his close ties to the Pakistani army, and given his troubling approach to counterterrorism—Khan has repeatedly criticised his country for targeting Pakistani terrorists with force—one might reasonably expect New Delhi to be concerned. In reality, Khan’s arrival on the scene